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With just four offices – three of them domestic – and 130 attorneys, Herrick Feinstein doesn’t exhibit the typical footprint of your AmLaw-ranked New York law firm. Nonetheless, by focusing on their core practice areas of real estate, litigation, sports, and art law, they earned their spot and have thrived in the AmLaw 200 rankings for years. And while they pushed through the challenges of the global financial crisis, despite a slow but continued economic recovery in the years that followed, they saw profits dip to a low of $645K between 2012-2014.

Smart leadership saw this as an opportunity to better streamline the firm. And as part of the development and execution of a firm-wide cost control strategy, they subleased some of their Manhattan office space and combined two New Jersey offices to reduce one of the most impactful expenses a law firm has: real estate. The results were a profits per partner increase of 39.5% – bring them to a healthy $900K – and a revenue increase of 9.5% to $115,500,000, jumping them up 14 spots to #179 in the AmLaw 200.

Today we hear from Irwin Kishner, chairman of Herrick Feinstein’s executive committee, about some of the more granular aspects of their business model, the scope of their practice portfolio, their strategy for moving forward, and more. Please see a revised and edited version of our exchange below:

On The Nuances Of Their Business Model

Parnell: In an American Lawyer article, you talked about your successful proven business model. What is the model? What has proven to be successful for you?

Kishner: I think a large part of our success comes from the way we view the lawyer-client relationship. There are many firms that have an “A” and “B” set of clients. We only have “A” clients, so we are committed to providing value to them at every turn. That means being preemptive to their business concerns, becoming an expert in their industry, and delivering excellence whenever and wherever they need it. In this industry, the minute you forget to do that is the minute you start losing market share.

On The Scope Of Their Practice Portfolio

Parnell: Now, talking about your portfolio: obviously, there are more than just your real estate practice; for instance, sports and art law. These are the ones that really catch the media’s attention, but can you talk to me about your practice portfolio a bit?

Kishner: People love talking about those three areas, in part because they deal with tangible objects that almost everyone knows about, such as stadiums, iconic buildings and major works of art. But we also excel in trial and appellate litigation in New York and New Jersey, and in title insurance, we’re a go-to firm for almost every major company, and we know that industry from top to bottom. If you can master an industry, and understand what your clients are looking for, that’s where you’ll build a business. That’s when your clients will remain extremely loyal to you.

Irwin Kishner: "With technology the way it is and with the ability to be efficient, you don’t have to be on premises all the time. We’ve been able to reduce, through technology and managing our real estate, and cut down our costs significantly. "

On Punching Above Their Weight Class

Parnell: Now, how are you, as a smaller firm, competing against some of the biggest firms? Your gross revenue may be smaller, but you're competing against some of the biggest firms in the world.

Kishner: We go toe-to-toe with the world’s biggest law firms all the time, in part because we’re located in New York and New Jersey, where some of the best firms in the world are competitors. We compete at this level by delivering excellent lawyering at a fair price. Herrick lawyers are graduates of the most prestigious law schools, and many others came to us as laterals from Am Law 100 firms. They chose to come here in part because we give our partners a fair amount of autonomy over which practice areas they want to pursue. But with that autonomy, you’re expected to deliver 24/7 excellence to our clients, and to each other.